Court rules against royalties for downloads

Entertainment Merchants Assn. had filed amicus brief opposing payments

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 4/25/2007

APRIL 25 | A federal court ruled today that digital media companies don’t have to pay a performance and royalty fee for music downloads and movie downloads that feature music.

The U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York affirmed a lower court ruling that found that digital music and media downloads aren’t public performances and shouldn’t be subject to public performance license and royalty fees. Music royalty organization ASCAP had argued that song writers and publishers should receive royalties for downloaded music.

The Entertainment Merchants Assn. had joined with the National Assn. of Retail Merchandisers and the Digital Media Assn. to file an amicus brief against royalty payments.

“The position of ASCAP was nonsensical,” EMA president Bo Andersen said in a statement on the ruling. “Digital downloads are not ‘public’ nor are they ‘performances.’ Had ASCAP prevailed in its attempted end-run around the clear and established definitions of copyright law, additional, non-productive royalty costs would have been added to motion picture and videogame downloads, potentially stymieing this delivery system.”